all the changes in LEGALLY BLONDE | west end revival at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre 2022

one change that i don't like is how brooke is a brunette in the show. the importance of brooke being blonde is that the legal team treats her just like they treat elle: they don't trust her nor take her seriously/believe in her. and it's important for elle to have this connection to another blonde woman who's being looked down upon. it seems like that aspect was lost on the people who adapted this new version of the show

My favourite non lyric change was in “chip on my shoulder” on the line “I don’t know what this is” “it’s for hair” “wear a hat”, Emmett now picks up a hot pink rampant rabbit. I CACKLED for the rest of the song.

I think changing "You lesbians think you're so clever" to feminists is erasing the fact that they are discrimminated against on the basis of their queerness not their political views. If you wanted to make them non-binary say something like "You enbies are so difficult" or something like that and highlight the fact that they are looked down on for being queer. The line comes from a character we're not meant to really like, and I find queerphobia unlikable.

I feel like paulette being Orange and Brooke being blue doesn't make so much sense to me. Paulette could a touch of orange and some more colors, but Brooke should really have orange as her color cause well. SHE'S IN PRISON

10:03 I believe when the show originally came to London, the lyric changes in Ireland were to portray London/UK Tour Paulette as wiser than her Broadway counterpart. In the Broadway version, she has this strange obsession with a country she knows nothing about (except silly stereotypes) whereas the London version has an Irish grandfather who told her real stories directly so she's more grounded. Also UK audiences don't have the same fascination of the Irish as many Americans so it made sense to have it be a part of her heritage as to why she loves the idea of Ireland so much.

A bit disappointing to hear that they removed references to the Enid being a lesbian considering how many nonbinary people are lesbians. Also considering Enid's character was one of the first times I saw a lesbian onscreen and as a lesbian, it's nice to have that rep (even though she is a stereotype). And lesbians are very much part of modern queer society so attempting to "modernize" Enid by not making her a lesbian feels like erasure. Edit: Considering they also removed a Jewish last name, it feels like they're overcorrecting in terms of identity and trying not to offend, and erasing identity isn't the solution they thought it was. When a song like Gay or European still exists in the show, you're fighting a losing battle when it comes to that kind of thing.

Positive had a lyric change in the U.S. tour that I thought made more sense for a shorter Vivian. "Fighting is not Delta Nu, who knows what the heck she'll do, unless someone knows Kung Fu, who's got a plan B?"

Someone posted the audio of act one. At least in that performance, the new Supreme Court justice they reference is Justice Jackson, the first black woman to ever serve on the court. She was confirmed in April but wasn't actually sworn in until the very end of June, so fun fact, she was only actually officially Justice Jackson for the last 3 performances.

please tell me they changed emmett’s line of “i haven’t slept since 1992” because that gets more ironic as the years go on😭

I personally think that Elle should be able to be played by a person of any race and that she shouldn’t have to just be played by a black or white actress, but at the same time i think that casting Emmett as a black man made his background story a lot deeper because it’s sadly so common that people of color have to work so much harder to be taken seriously in their work environment

I love how your videos are like gossiping with a friend about shows I may never see

Omg I’ve been waiting for this video ever since he reviewed the revival!!!

I loved the UPS man’s delivery of ‘do me a favour, have yourself a super day’ in this production was so sweet 🥰

I thought it was a really weird choice to have Warner be the one to get the perm at the end, given he's not on Elle's side and is very full of himself, why would he want to help her?

I think that what bugged me the most is actually something that barely changed. The whole song There Right There (Gay or European) felt out-of-place in THIS production. I mean, you go out of your way to update the ENTIRE show, but the song that actually has the most platitudes of gay men is left ALMOST unchanged. Don't get me wrong - I love the song just the way it is, but it felt quite hypocritical that they just decided to keep the song mostly unchanged, with the one really idiotic change of "I'm straight"/"you were not yesterday" to "I'm straight"/"and I'm Beyoncé". What did that serve? what was the problem with the original line? that it suggested that they had sex last night? closeted gays exist. Sexually confused men exist. Liars exist. Also, while I'm at it I would have to say that nowadays the use of the word "straight" is problematic, but that seems just my thing. I think that it was a great attempt of updating a show that isn't really updateable. The humour is 2001 humour and the cosmetic changes to make it sound 2022 failed on most accounts.

One of the major issues I had was in the song 'Take it Like a Man'. In the slow section, at least when I saw it, it was not sung as rubato as I would have liked it to be (to make it more emotional and sincere). At the end of that song Elle and Emmett don't even hug, which completely ruined his character for me. That moment in the original production changed their status from 'good friends' to 'best friends/potential lovers'. Without that sincere hug, Emmett's sexual advances on Elle felt creepy rather than... whatever they were meant to be. Another issue I had was generally with some choreography. I felt like people started dancing early and unnecessarily, which ruined some moments. For example, 'Blood in the Water' should not have Callaghan dancing – it makes him less intimidating. I felt like the dancing would have actually helped if the students danced while he just sang. It would have made him more 'powerful' and influential. 'So Much Better' had a similar issue where the students started dancing – this song is meant to be about Elle overcoming everyone's expectations of her and rising above everyone else. Why on earth are they dancing and celebrating with her?! (The Delta Nu girls should be the only ones dancing). One final small thing I had a problem with was just the loss of some 'clap' moments from the original. In 'Legally Blonde (Reprise)' Elle stayed on stage, just looking upstage instead of towards the audience, turning around when the climax hit. I felt that it would have been more powerful if she had exited from the top of the stage curtains. This also applies to the bows. Other than that, it was mostly spectacular. I was disappointed at how much I did not like Emmett as much (especially during 'Chip on my Shoulder' and 'Take it Like a Man' – I couldn't feel any romantic love from him towards Elle), but I still very much enjoyed everything.

I found it interesting that they changed Carlos to be Irish (?) And that instead of "I'm straight!" "You were not yesterday" to "yeah? And I'm Beyonce" I just found it kinda cool, and same with Kyle the UPS guy I really liked that he was this nervous sweetheart rather than just, strictly eye candy making it even more adorable that Paulette is just head over heels for him imo

The part about the US/UK changes in Legally Blonde actually made me pause the video to type this. I was recently in a production of Legally Blonde, and after the show I was talking about it with someone very close. In our production, there was no door in that scene, and my companion had seemed a bit off-put about the scene because she had interpreted it as Elle brushing Emmett aside when he obviously cares so much about her. (Additionally, "Take it Like a Man" was cut from our production, so she was also concerned that their relationship seemed one-sided, with Emmett giving all the support and care and Elle giving none.) So I was trying to explain to her that in the original production there had been a door and Elle can't fully hear him if she can hear him at all, and this just reminded me of that.

My thought on the 'mousy brown bob' line change: My guess is that it's supposed to reference back to when Elle is crying at the salon (the first time) and tells Paulette about Warner and Vivian, who has a mousy brown bob. So with the new line change, it would seem that Elle is not only wanting to be brunette, but she is wanting to be like Vivian. Do we still get the point with using 'brunette?' I did when I saw the show back in middle school. I suppose the updated lyric made it 100% specific to a person.

My take is that they changed it for Gen Z who doesn’t understand the betty vs Veronica dynamics that play into blonde vs brunette, so the “mousy” adjective was important to signify that being a brunette was a departure from the hot girl aesthetic that defines Elle.